138 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO THE APPLE. 



several insects are found in the same apple, and sometimes the 

 fruit is almost alive with them, when, being rapidly riddled 

 with their borings, it speedily decays. 



No. 63.— The Apple Thrips. 



Phlceothrips mail Fitch. 



This is a very small insect, about one-eighteenth of an inch 

 long. It is slender, of a blackish-purple color, with narrow, 

 silvery-white wings. Occasionally apples are found early in 

 August, small and withered, with a cavity near their tip, 

 about the size of a pea, and the surface of a blackened color, 

 appearing as if the cavity had been gnawed out. Within this 

 may usually be found one of these apple thrips, which had 

 probably taken up its residence on the fruit while it was very 

 small, and by frequent puncturing day after day the apple has 

 been stunted in its growth, and finally withers. 



This insect has never yet proved very injurious; should it 

 ever become so, it would be a difficult one to exterminate. 

 Syringing thoroughly with tobacco- water or a solution of 

 whale-oil soap would probably prove efficacious. 



No. 64. — The Ash-gray Pinion. 



Lithophane antennata (Walker.) 



This insect is a moth, the larva of which has occasionally 



Fig. 145. 



been found boring into young apples and peaches during the 

 month of June. Fig. 145 illustrates its mode of procedure. 



